Spelling Archives - Oxford Owl for 51ºÚÁÏÍø Help your child to learn: reading and maths tips for parents Fri, 06 Oct 2023 10:37:25 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cropped-Group-200-32x32.png Spelling Archives - Oxford Owl for 51ºÚÁÏÍø 32 32 Spelling Spotlight: when to use ‘ize’ and ‘ise’ /spelling-spotlight-when-to-use-ize-and-ise/ Thu, 05 Oct 2023 10:35:56 +0000 /?p=51834 It might seem strange to spell the same word differently. Is it -ise or -ize at the end? Which is right? Is it American or English? Find out here!

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Realise or realize, organise or organize, analyse or analyze?

 

It might seem strange to see the same word with different spellings. Is it -ise or -ize at the end? Which one is right? You and your child might think the answer would be found in a trusted dictionary – an Oxford dictionary perhaps. But when you look, you might find that they are both correct!

There must be more to it though because some words are never spelt with an -ize ending! To find out which words can be spelt both ways, and which ones only one way, read on.

The first thing is that a dictionary will not give the ‘correct’ answer, but it will show how words are being used and spelt. If a word has two meanings, it provides both. Some words, such as foot has many more meanings: the thing at the end of your leg, a measure of length, a unit of rhythm in a poem. It also means the bottom of a hill or the muscular organ a snail uses to get about. Depending on the dictionary you are looking in, you will find all or some of these meanings. It will let you know if a word is old fashioned, for example, thrice, meaning three times. It may also tell you where a word originally came from, and this is the reason behind the different ways of spelling the same word.

It is a common belief that -ize is an Americanism and the British is -ise: recognize rather than recognise. That if you spell with a -ize, that this is an American spelling. But for most verbs, either way is correct in British English and the -ize ending has been in use in English since the 16th century. If the word came into English with its origin in the Greek root -izo, then it can be spelt -ize.

This spelling is used in a number of places including Oxford dictionaries. The National Curriculum opts for recognise and criticise although both of these words can be spelt with -ize.

Here are some words which are always spelt with -ise at the end:

  • advertise
  • advise
  • comprise
  • compromise
  • despise
  • devise
  • disguise
  • exercise
  • improvise
  • revise
  • supervise
  • surprise
  • televise

 

Your dictionary will tell you when a word can be spelt in different ways. It will only give one spelling for the words above. If your dictionary is an English one, rather than American, it will also only give one spelling for analyse and paralyse. These two are always spelt like this in British English.

Overall, if this still seems confusing, the most important piece of advice to give your child is to be consistent: if you start with a ‘z’ spelling, stick to it. If you are using the ‘s’ spelling, use it all the way through your writing. And, finally, remember a dictionary can tell you so much more than the meanings of tricky words.

 

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]]> How fun with phonics helps develop communication skills /how-fun-with-phonics-helps-develop-communication-skills/ Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:46:58 +0000 /how-fun-with-phonics-helps-develop-communication-skills/ One of the most valuable skills we can give our children is the ability to communicate well. Read top tips on how to develop communication skills.

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One of the most basic, but also the most valuable, skills we can give our children is the ability to communicate well. Research shows that children who can use language well and confidently not only get better results at school, but also are more likely to succeed in later life.

At its heart, this means being confident with words – how to read them, what they mean and how to spell them. This link between phonics, vocabulary knowledge and spelling is crucial. Children who are excited to learn new words and spellings will continue to expand their vocabulary, which in turn, means that they will happily take on new learning across different subjects. Children who are anxious about unfamiliar words tend to stick to the vocabulary they know and can spell, which restricts their learning and ability to communicate well with others.

So, what can you do to help your child develop a healthy attitude towards early language skills?

 

1. Show them how much fun words can be

Try to find time to talk together and as you do, encourage them to ask questions so that you can chat back and forth. Point out words whose sound describe what they are such as crunchy or crumbly or words beginning with s- that can sound like soft, smooth or squishy things. You could create a list of favourite words together. Try finding small words inside big words, such as together, and see who can find the most. Tell jokes, use rhymes, read lots of stories and poems. You could even make up words that are particular to your family. Show your child a positive attitude towards words and language.

 

2. Use dictionaries to explore new words

Why let your child’s dictionary gather dust on the shelf when you could challenge each other to bring a new word into your everyday language? A ball, for example, could be described as ‘round’ but it is also a ‘sphere’. Repeat the word, say how much you like the sound of it. Encourage your child to say the word, too. See if you can find it in a dictionary together. You’ll need to listen carefully to the initial phonemes (sounds) in the word, talk about what letters can make up these sounds, and then use the alphabet to find the word. Point out how the dictionary explains the meaning of the word.
 

3. Get familiar with phonics – consonant sounds

At school, your child will follow a phonics reading programme. Each week they focus on different sounds and the letter, or letters, used to make the sounds. Try to keep track of which sounds your child is learning and practise at home. If they are learning the sound /b/ made by the letter ‘b’, have fun trying to spot things in your home which start with that sound, e.g. bed, beans, or book. Encourage your child to draw the letter or group of letters and then add pictures around it that start with that sound. If you use a phonics dictionary, you will find the words in it are ordered by their sound.  When your child is learning the /s/ sound, you can use it to discover that both ‘sun’ and ‘Cinderella’ both start with the same sound but can be spelt either with the letter ‘s’ or the letter ‘c’. Try thinking of other words beginning with the /s/ sound and think about their spellings.
 

4. Ee, ea or ey – phonic vowel sounds

As well as learning about the initial (first) sounds in words, which are usually consonant sounds, your child will also learn about short and long vowel sounds. These are often, but not always, found in the middle and end of words. Some of these sounds can be spelt in many different ways. For example, the long vowel sound /ee/, can be spelt using the letters ee (bee), ea (dream), ey (donkey), ie (thief), y (funny), or e (me).

Once you know what sound your child is focusing on at school, have fun noticing that sound in other words. For example, if you come across the word donkey in a story, pause and think about other words that end with the same sound and spelling (e.g. key, money, trolley). You can use a phonics spelling dictionary to come up with these other words for you.
 

5. Be creative in learning tricky spellings

Some words are just tricky to spell so their spelling has to be learnt. Your child will come across many common words that just need learning, such as the, are, friend, one, or said. Try to pick out words that your child struggles to spell and find engaging ways to help them learn these spellings. Some children learn through chanting and repetition, others find it helpful to link actions to letters to help them remember spellings. Sometimes inventing a rhyme or saying can help children remember spellings, for example, ‘because’ (big elephants can always understand small elephants).

Read this when thinking about which dictionary will suit your child.

Buy now

Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary

Series created by Roderick Hunt and Alex Brychta
Phonics consultant: Debbie Hepplewhite

Using the Oxford Reading Tree Floppy’s Phonics Sound and Letters Programme and synthetic phonics, the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary helps children become proficient readers and spellers. With 4000 words, ordered by sounds and spellings and linked to the Alphabetic Code Chart, it makes preparing for the phonics screening check simple and fun.

Find out more >

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]]> How a dictionary and thesaurus can help your child discover the world of words /how-a-dictionary-and-thesaurus-can-help-your-child-discover-the-world-of-words/ Sun, 28 Jul 2019 22:00:00 +0000 /how-a-dictionary-and-thesaurus-can-help-your-child-discover-the-world-of-words/ Find out how using dictionaries and thesauruses can expand your child's vocabulary and help them enjoy learning.

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Parents, teachers and researchers all know how important language is to children’s education and life chances. We want our children to enjoy their learning and to be able to express themselves in speech and writing. Having a good vocabulary plays an essential part in this and resources such as dictionaries are designed to help. But how can we help children get the most out of them?

Why a new dictionary and thesaurus?

At OUP, we are always working to update our dictionaries and keep them relevant. When we wrote the new and , we wanted to create brand new books for primary-age (8+) children that would not only help them with school work but would also encourage their own reading and writing, and ideally spark a love of language that continues throughout their lives.

Everything, from definitions and examples to the extra features and fabulous, full-colour illustrations that pack the pages, is chosen to be appealing, fun and easy to use. The books are written by lexicographers with input from teachers and educational experts and based on evidence from corpus, so you can trust them to be accurate as well as age-appropriate.

Five ways to get the most out of a dictionary or thesaurus

1. Discover together

Show your child that it’s fine not to know what a word means, or that you sometimes know a word but aren’t sure how to use or spell it – you can find out. Your child might enjoy challenging you with words that you don’t know – for example, grammar terms used at school, which are all listed in the back of the Dictionary.

2. Alphabet games

The Dictionary and Thesaurus both have alphabet tabs along the side of each page and ‘catchwords’ at the top to help you find the word you’re looking for. Games that practise alphabetical order can be very useful in finding information more easily (and are also good for practising spelling). You could put groceries into alphabetical order when you unpack them, or try to say all the number words one to ten in alphabetical order (this is quite difficult!).

3. Happy accidents and treasure hunts

Browsing the pages of a book leads to accidental discoveries. Try opening a page at random with your child and looking for the most interesting fact you can find on there. This might be a Word Story about where a word such as bonfire or bungalow comes from, or a picture that shows you what a samurai or a scarab looks like!

Encourage your child to follow trails from one word to another in the , by looking up the words in blue in the ‘Build Your Vocabulary’ boxes. Try the Treasure Hunt at the back of the dictionary.

In the , each letter begins with a challenge and encourages you to use the book to help find answers, for example ‘Can you think of 5 different words for ‘frightened’?’ or ‘Can you think of 3 adjectives for describing a bad storm?’

Through activities like this, children will not only learn interesting facts and build their vocabulary, but become confident users of reference books, a skill that will help them as they move through secondary school and beyond.

4. The confidence to create

Developing a love of language means more than just getting spelling and grammar right. It’s also about becoming confidently creative in the way you express your ideas.

Encourage your child to play with words. Lots of jokes that you probably already enjoy with your child depend on world play and double meanings.

Why couldn’t the pony sing? – Because he was a little hoarse.
What do you call an alligator in a vest? – An investigator.

The Dictionary and Thesaurus include activities on inventing your own words – and the Thesaurus has lots of tips on how to write brilliant stories and non-fiction.

5. Reading together

Shared reading (either by reading to your child or listening to audiobooks together) is something you probably already do, and it’s a key way of trying to close the ‘word gap’ by introducing children to texts that might be above their reading age. We include some more challenging words and meanings in the Dictionary that you can look up together if you come across them, such as mass the verb (as in ‘Dark clouds were massing’).

Both the Dictionary and Thesaurus include lots of quotations from children’s authors. These can help explain a word, and give models of good writing, but above all they are intended to inspire children to read more, so they can grow up experiencing all the excitement, interest, and wonder that the world of books has to offer.

Books

Please note: all book links lead to more information on Amazon.co.uk

A brand new dictionary crammed with features to get children aged 7+ discovering words and boosting their vocabulary range.

With entries from across the curriculum, clear and accessible definitions, a mixture of illustrations and photographs, Word Story panels which provide interesting word origins, and Build Your Vocabulary panels giving synonyms and antonyms, it will help children discover lots of exciting new words and meanings.

A brand new thesaurus packed with features to get children aged 7+ finding a wide range of different words, boosting their vocabulary range, and writing creatively.

With thousands of synonyms, a mixture of illustrations and photographs, help with alphabetic navigation for tricky letters (like ph- and f-), Overused panels providing alternatives for words like ‘nice’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and Writing Tip panels giving context and synonyms and antonyms, it will help children discover lots of exciting new words easily and power their writing.

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]]> Children’s dictionaries – how to find the right dictionary for your child /childrens-dictionaries-how-to-find-the-right-dictionary-for-your-child/ Thu, 24 Aug 2017 22:00:00 +0000 /childrens-dictionaries-how-to-find-the-right-dictionary-for-your-child/ Find the right dictionary for your child with these four useful tips.

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Looking up an unfamiliar word in the dictionary can be a daunting task for many children.

Without specially written definitions suited to their reading level, using a dictionary will be frustrating and discouraging, with each new definition using more confusing words than the last! Encouraging your child to use an appropriate dictionary on their own terms can really help them become an enthusiastic, independent reader.

Here are four things to consider when choosing a dictionary for your child.

1. Is it pitched at the right age for your child? Is it age-appropriate?

At best, a good dictionary can stimulate children to widen their vocabulary proactively, by researching the new words they encounter day to day. At worst, an inappropriate dictionary will bore or alienate your child with wordy definitions or overly childish pictures.

Children’s dictionaries generally have a clearly defined age guide, which is a good place to start. It’s also worth bearing in mind that some children acquire reading and writing skills more readily than others, which is completely normal! Buying a dictionary together can be a good way to make the experience fun for your child, while ensuring that they find the definitions engaging. A good child’s dictionary will contain example sentences which children will relate to: they ‘walk’ to the park, they don’t ‘walk’ to work.

2. Dimensions

Is your child willing to lug a hardback dictionary, thesaurus, and the full works of Shakespeare to school every day? A wide variety of formats are available to suit your particular needs, from large, brightly coloured picture dictionaries for young children to our all-in-one Mini Dictionary and Thesaurus which easily fits into a school bag.

3. Extra features

Many dictionaries come with special appendices, pictures, grammatical rules and more. Some children’s dictionaries come with jokes, anagrams, and rhyming words, while others contain creative writing tips from beloved children’s authors. It’s always worth doing a little research to find a dictionary with extra features which are useful and interesting to your child.

Oxford dictionaries often come with supplemental guides, worksheets and games that you can download online. You’ll find some free word games further down this page.

4. Design & themes

Choosing a design or theme which resonates which your child is important at any age. A young Roald Dahl fanatic will of course be drawn to our Roald Dahl Dictionary, full of Quentin Blake’s iconic illustrations and Dahl’s inimitable vocabulary.

°Õ³ó±ðÌýOxford First Illustrated Dictionary contains lovely hand-drawn illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark, and is full of popular characters from children’s stories and fairy tales. °Õ³ó±ðÌýOxford First Dictionary, on the other hand, features computer-generated images which may appeal to children who prefer computer games to bedtime stories!

You’ll find some of our best-selling children’s dictionaries further down this page.

Video support

Why we need dictionaries for children

What’s it like to work in children’s publishing, as the Publisher for Children’s Dictionaries? Sam talks about what her job involves and why she loves it!

Introduction to Dictionary Skills

An introduction to first dictionary skills, to help every child understand how to use dictionaries to find the words they need, and enrich their language.

Our favourite children’s dictionaries

Buy now

Oxford First Dictionary

Suitable for children aged 5–7

The perfect first dictionary, guaranteed to give a love of language for life!

This dictionary includes fun word jokes for children and more information on time, seasons, the body and question words, along with the alphabet, numbers, colours and shapes.

Find out more >

Buy now

First Illustrated Dictionary

Suitable for children aged 5–7

Beautifully illustrated by well-known picture book artist Emma Chichester Clark, this book is the perfect first building block for 5–7 year-olds to engage with words and language.

Over 2000 entries give clear meanings and definitions, parts of speech, word forms, word families, synonyms and opposites to build vocabulary and first literacy skills.

Find out more >

Buy now

Phonics Spelling Dictionary

Suitable for children aged 5–7

Using the Oxford Reading Tree Floppy’s Phonics Sound and Letters Programme and synthetic phonics, the Oxford Phonics Spelling Dictionary helps children become proficient readers and spellers.

With 4000 words, ordered by sounds and spellings and linked to the Alphabetic Code Chart, it makes preparing for the phonics screening check simple and fun.

Find out more >

Buy now

Children’s Rhyming Dictionary

Suitable for children aged 7+

Poetry and creative writing is fun with the Oxford Children’s Rhyming Dictionary, in the classroom and at home.

With inspiring poems by John Foster, quirky illustrations and engaging creative writing activities, this alphabetical rhyming dictionary gives over 3000 rhyming words to help children to write their own poems, riddles, and nonsense verse.

Find out more >

Buy now

Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary (Paperback)

Suitable for children aged 8+

Lots of dictionaries tell you what an ‘alligator’ is, or how to spell ‘balloon’, but they won’t explain the difference between a ‘ringbeller’ and a ‘trogglehumper’, or say why witches need ‘gruntles’ eggs’, or suggest a word for the shape of a ‘Knid’. This dictionary does all those things.

All the words that Roald Dahl invented are here, like ‘biffsquiggled’ and ‘whizzpopping’, to remind you what means what, but that is not all. You’ll also find out where words came from, rhyming words, synonyms and lots of alternative words for words that are overused.

Paperback edition >
Hardback edition >

Buy now

Mini School Dictionary & Thesaurus

Suitable for children aged 10–11

°Õ³ó±ðÌýOxford Mini School Dictionary & Thesaurus is the ideal one-volume quick reference tool for the school bag. It is the only one of its kind for students ten years plus, ideal for primary school leavers about to start secondary school.

Each page has the dictionary entries at the top with the companion thesaurus entries at the bottom making it easy to find the right words quickly. The dictionary contains clear simple definitions, up-to-date example sentences, and support on spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Find out more >

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Word games

Word games for age 5+

Activity: Plurals [PDF]

Find the plural for each of these words.

Activity: Putting things in order [PDF]

Put these words in alphabetical order.

Activity: Spotting synonyms[PDF]

Match the pairs of synonyms.

Activity: Shapes word search [PDF]

Can you find all the names of shapes hidden in this word search?

Activity: Word game [PDF]

Can you solve the clues to find the right words?

Word games for age 7+

Activity: Putting words in alphabetical order [PDF]

Put these words into alphabetical order.

Activity: How do you spell that? [PDF]

Fill in the blank spaces to make a word.

Activity: Know your ABC! [PDF]

Do this quiz to see how well you know the alphabet.

Activity: Matching words [PDF]

Draw a line to match each of the words below to its opposite.

Activity: Spotting synonyms [PDF]

Match the pairs of synonyms.

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